Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

A few weeks ago I made some homemade ice cream sandwiches for Nathan's birthday. There was homemade lemon ice cream with molasses/ginger cookies (which seems to be our favorite flavor combo lately) and Tillamook vanilla ice cream with oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Here's a few tips I learned while making these in case you want to make some too:

1. Melt the butter in the cookies before it's mixed with the sugar. The warm butter will help make the cookies flatter.

2. Freeze the cookies prior to making the sandwich part. They aren't as fragile then.

3. Scoop the ice cream (not too melty, but not too hard either) with a small cookie dough scoop. It's easy to control the portion and the sandwiches end up with about an inch of ice cream.

4. Press both cookies and ice cream together slightly so it all sticks. Then refereeze till your ready to eat!

Missing My Mac

You'll have to excuse me if this post doesn't look too great. It's really just a test. My MacBook Pro decided this week that it was time to quit unless I'm willing to do a $300 fix. Insert sad face. So until I figure out a new computer situation I will have to settle with the Blogger App for the iPad, which so far, is not awesome. I will gladly be accepting any Apple computer donations. I'm the mean time, let's see how this app does with pictures. Although, blogging by an outdoor fire is pretty great on a holiday weekend. Insert happy face.

Glass and Wood Drink Dispenser

All summer long I have been been wishing that I had a drink dispenser that would hydrate more than 4 people. So when I came across this guy, a 7 liter glass and wood teardrop dispenser from World Market for only $20 . . . I couldn't resist. Plus I still had a gift card from my birthday, 5 months ago (anyone else love stretching gift cards out as looooooong as possible, like me?). Happy late birthday to me. We used this for an outdoor movie night party on our deck to celebrate the hubby's birthday last week. I guess it's happy birthday to both of us!

Sunset at Princess Meadow

I love where I live

Farm Fresh Eggs

Have you ever had farm fresh eggs? I don't think I ever had until last week when someone brought us these as a gift. Aside from all their fun colors, they sure made some delicious omlettes. It kind of makes me want to have a couple chickens . . . but only kind of. These also make me wonder why all the eggs in the store are white . . .

Watermelon and Feta Salad with Honey Balsamic Mint Dressing

I have absolutely found my favorite new summer food. I can't fully take credit for this though. This is my re-creation of a seasonal salad I had at a BJ's Restaurant recently. I would give you the recipe, except I would say "to-taste" on every ingredient. So instead, here's the list:

Salad Ingredients

Watermelon in bite size pieces

Lettuce (I've used all different types)

Crumbled Feta Cheese

Slices of Red Onions

Finely Chopped Mint

Dressing

Honey (proportionally . . . use most of this)

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Sea Salt

Pepper

Black and White Chevron Pillows

Remember that time I got an awesome couch? One that I could set up in a million different ways?  It's my favorite piece in our house . . . and I've slowly been piecing together the rest of the living room, topping off the current look with some 100% feather, black and white chevron pillows from Home Goods for $20 (for the set of 2!) I've always been a sucker for black and white so I couldn't help but give in to this current trend. Now. . . if only I could decide what to do with the wall.